Looking Back on 2009

It's time to reflect on my genealogy journey in 2009.

I have been doing genealogy so long that I rarely have great surprises, but there were a few this year. For me, the biggest surprise was the very unexpected find of a photo of an oil portrait of my ancestor, Elizabeth Wildey Rosevelt, done in about 1808. I had no idea a portrait existed, but Karen Morris, who also is working on this line, saw the original portrait at the home of another of Elizabeth's descendants. I had no idea a portrait existed and had never pursued looking for one. In 2008 I worked with a friend to add gravestone photos of a local cemetery to Find A Grave. This year I was able to contribute in a different way by taking photos requested by others. I replaced my old digital camera with a new model that is very good at taking gravestone pictures but wasn't expensive. I can also now be more a part of the digital world by using it to take photographs of documents. This was very useful on my genealogy trip to New York City. I was able to photo a large number of documents at the New York Historical Society. It wasn't a surprise to find these documents, but it was a pleasure to actually see them. It was also very fulfilling to visit the graves of so many of the family buried in New York City. Over the year I was able to add a large number of descendants to my Jacob and Lydia Butts Rosevelt line, so all-in-all it was a successful year.

It is also time to give appreciation for the efforts of so many who have added documents and saved them to be shared online. Missouri has a tremendous site with digital copies of vital records. Other state and societies, such as South Dakota, Michigan, Delaware, Massachusetts, and Ohio have added many vital records also. I have been disappointed that Ancestry hasn't added more American records this year, but several other have added records that were difficult to locate before. The Family Search pilot project has added several state censuses with indexes to them. Footnote is making available some great Civil War records. I especially want to thank the Old Fulton New York Post Cards site, http://www.fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html. Part of his site has copies of many old New York newspapers. This is a great site that should receive more commendations. I also want to give a special thank you to all of you that took gravestone pictures I requested on Find A Grave.

Here to to a great 2010.

Daytripping at Woodlawn

I am on a jet plane to NYC. I have been to NYC a few times, but I never had the opportunity to reserve much time for genealogical research while I was there. This time I have planned time to visit the New York Historical Society, Woodlawn Cemetery, and Greenwood Cemetery. There will be a lot of opportunity to make good use of the digital camera I bought last month.

On this trip I will be ferreting out more information on the siblings of Stephen Rosevelt, plus there is supposed to be a family record of Solomon Rosevelt at the NYHS where they also have the Relyea Papers. Those papers are supposed to have several documents regarding my line.

All of Stephen's brothers and two of his sisters resided in NYC for at least a few years. All of the brothers, except for John Henry, were involved in someway with shipping. Jacob headed the Custom House and also was a ship's chandler. Solomon and George both had shipyards and Warren was a dock builder.

My plan was originally to visit NYHS early on Saturday. The weather forecast caused me to rethink that. They were calling for rain 0ff-and-on for most of the day, but more so in the afternoon. I decided Woodlawn would be the bet for the morning. Three of Stephen's siblings are buried there, Sarah Gifford, George, and Warren. It was a very easy ride from the hotel on the subway. Woodlawn is the last station on the line and the cemetery is just across the street from it. The main entrance though, where I needed to get my photography permit, is on the farther side. It is quite a nice walk through the cemetery and the route to the office is marked by a divided white line on the lane. I had talked with Sonia at the cemetery office earlier and had emailed her several times. She was very helpful. While I was there I got the lot card, which was very helpful.

By the time I reached the family lots, it was starting to lightly rain. I hurriedly took the pictures and looked around the area. Fortunately, it wasn't raining very hard and I was able to get some very good pictures. The fun part was finding a name I did not know of before and which should open up another line of research. On the way back to the subway station it started to rain harder and I was very happy I had brought my umbrella.

Next stop-- NYHS.

It's time for NY genealogy

I'm off to New York City, not to see the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building, but to visit a couple of cemeteries and the New York Historical Society. I made reservations August 1 and finally it’s T minus a couple of hours. A favorite part of any genealogical journey is the planning. There are often new libraries, historical societies, and cemeteries to visit, and if you are really lucky another researcher with whom you can discuss the family tree. For my trip, it will be my first to the New York Historical Society, plus Greenwood and Woodlawn Cemeteries.
A few years ago my research indicated that the Relyea Papers had considerable information on the Rosevelt line I research. Like any researcher, I want to see them for myself and make my own analysis of what they contain. Other research indicated that there is also a “family record” of Solomon Rosevelt available. It wasn’t made evident if this is part of the Relyea Papers or is a separate manuscript. Both of them are supposed to be in the manuscript collection of the New York Historical Society. I called the archivist and had his assurance they were available. Now, it's New York genealogy time.